Task force releases final report on 'epidemic' of newborns addicted to drugs

The Statewide Task Force on Prescription Drug Abuse &
Newborns, chaired by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, released its final
report on Monday, laying the groundwork for a “holistic approach” to the “epidemic”
of babies born addicted to pain-killing medication.

The task force was
created during the 2012 legislative session to examine the scope of
prescription drug abuse by expectant mothers, the costs associated with caring
for babies with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), the long-term effects of
the syndrome and prevention strategies.

The 54-page task
force report, completed two years before its 2015 due date, includes these
recommendations:

Bondi said she
expected the legislature to begin addressing many of the recommendations this
session, even if increased funding isn’t available this year. “We’ve talked
about it. We’ve given our recommendations … and now we have to move on it.”

Rob Siedlecki,
assistant secretary of the Department of Children and Families, said that if
the state doesn’t increase funding, the agency would look at “reprioritizing some
of the money we have… Pregnant women and their children are a priority
population.”

Early intervention
would help keep children out of the system, Siedlecki said. DCF currently funds
361 residential substance abuse treatment beds geared toward pregnant women and
women which young children.

The task force, which includes Sen.Joe Negron, R-Stuart, Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, State
Surgeon General John H. Armstrong and the heads of several state agencies and
organizations, reports that there were 1,563 instances of newborns diagnosed
with drug exposure in Florida in 2011, a three-fold increase since 2007, but Bondi said such cases are “underreported.”

She pushed for the task force after being
approached by a nurse from St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital in Tampa, which has
found that as many as 14 percent of the infants in their neonatal intensive
care unit were born addicted to prescription drugs. Hospitals aren’t required
to report these cases now.

The task force was
only scheduled to turn in an interim report in January, but the members were “passionate”
about implementing recommendations, Bondi said.

The reason for
urgency: Once you see one of these babies going through withdrawl, Bondi said, “it
changes your life…. Their cry is like nothing I’ve ever heard – it’s a shriek. Instead
of milk, they’re getting morphine or methadone. That’s how they’re entering
this world and it’s heartbreaking.”